We can talk about Grimace, OMG, the playoff pumpkin, and any number of gimmicks that defined the Mets’ magical 2024 season. But at the end of the day, to get to within two wins of the World Series, you
need contributions from the expected (Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, etc.) and, more importantly, the unexpected. Mark Vientos, who came into the year after posting a .546 OPS/63 wRC+/-0.2 fWAR in 41 plate appearances in 2022 and a .620 OPS/68 wRC+/-0.8 fWAR in 233 plate appearances in 2023, broke out, proving to be as big a reason as any for the Mets exceeding expectations and making a deep postseason run.
Vientos finished 2024 with a 132 wRC+, the 11th-best mark among hitters in the NL with at least 450 plate appearances, ahead of Alonso (121) and right behind club leader Lindor (137). Vientos slashed .266/.322/.516 on the year and set career-best marks in basically every category, including home runs (27), runs scored (58), runs batted in (71), OPS (.832), and fWAR (2.9). His success wasn’t contained to the regular season, as his October performance was even more impressive, leading the club in hits (18), home runs (5) and runs batted in (14) while slashing .327/.362/.636 in 13 postseason games. The moment never looked too big for Vientos, who hit two homers in a losing effort in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Phillies and hit a huge grand slam in the team’s Game 2 NLCS win in Los Angeles. It looked like Vientos had finally made the jump from promising prospect to budding star at the major league level and inserted himself squarely into team’s future plans, leap frogging Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio on the depth chart in the process.
Unsurprisingly, Vientos earned the starting third baseman job in spring training and hit clean up in an Opening Day lineup featuring Lindor, Juan Soto, Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo, the four stars Steve Cohen would go on to label the “Fab Four”. The hope was that Vientos would build upon the rapid growth he experienced in 2024 and become the fifth star of that lineup, giving the team a fearsome one through five that would make any pitcher quiver with fear. That unfortunately never came to pass in 2025—unfortunate for the Mets, and unfortunate for Vientos’ career trajectory, which took a hit as he saw his role diminish and his standing within the organization take a hit.
Vientos never really got going. Even as the club excelled in the early stages of the 2025 season, Vientos was not much of a factor. He began the year hitting .109 with a 24 wRC+ through his first 13 games and was slashing .212/.297/.394 with a 95 wRC+ through the end of April. After exhibiting a power surge in 2024, he didn’t hit his first home run until April 17 and had four through the first month. His May wasn’t all that much better, as he hit .256/.306/.359 with a 90 wRC+ with two homers and six runs batted in over 23 games. He suffered a hamstring injury in early June that kept him out for much of the month, and by the time he returned on June 27, the team’s slide was well underway.
He entered the All-Star break slashing .223/.280/.361 with an 81 wRC+ and only six home runs. The power and extra base prowess he exhibited in 2024 was all but gone. After homering against the White Sox on May 28, he wouldn’t hit another one until July 28 against the Padres. In that span, he only had six extra base hits in total (five doubles, one triple). He finally started to heat up in the second half, starting off with an 11-game hitting streak after the All Star break, but his overall numbers were still far from what the club needed to prevent their collapse. He hit .275/.286/.406 in July, with one home run, 10 runs batted in, and a 92 wRC+.
August was the one month where Vientos finally looked like his old self, as he posted a season-best 167 wRC+ during the month. In that span, he hit .278/.330/.658 in 21 games. After hitting seven homers through four months, he eclipsed that total with eight homers in August while scoring 14 runs and knocking in 22 runs. His best stretch of ball all year came between August 17 and 27, when he posted an otherworldly 278 wRC+ while hitting .395/.442/.974 during a ten-game hitting streak. Unsurprisingly, the team also enjoyed its best offensive month in August, and given Vientos’ contributions, you could see a very obvious correlation. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, as he posted a 63 wRC+ in September while slashing .184/.262/.303 with two home runs.
Worse yet, his defense made him unplayable at third, making Vientos a man without a home. He had a -10 DRS, the worst among third basemen in the league in 2025. Meanwhile, he had a -6 run value and posted a -7 OAA at third base, putting him in the 16th percentile in fielding run value according to Baseball Savant, making him a defensive liability. Baty started to emerge offensively later in the season and was a far superior defender, making him Carlos Mendoza’s go-to at the hot corner. Vientos spent more time DHing, but with Starling Marte around, he wasn’t also a guarantee to find his name in the lineup card. He clearly fell out of favor and became more of a platoon option than a core member of the club as the team scrambled for wins any way they could find them.
That puts Vientos in a pretty precarious position heading into next season. It’s unlikely he will garner serious consideration to play the field, unless the team decides to move him to first base. He could be a candidate to serve as the Designated Hitter with Marte’s departure, but his offense did little to inspire confidence in him moving forward. The team could look to move on from him in a trade, trying to capitalize on what little value he still has from his 2024 season and add a key piece to their 2026 team, but it’s unclear what his value is to other teams at the moment.
The Mets have a lot of question marks heading into the winter, and Vientos’ performance last year has added another question that they will need to address. It will be fascinating to see how the club handles the 25-year-old, and whether they decide to move on or bet on on his 2024 season not being a fluke.
